Perfect timing: Five minutes before sunset, I watched with dismay as the sun dropped into a layer of clouds hanging along the horizon to the northwest. I had been hearing the sound of an approaching northbound climbing the grade from Black Butte for the past 15 to 20 minutes, and it looked like it would show just a few minutes too late. But as the train rounded the distant curve ridge out of Hotlum, my friend drew my attention toward the sun again, and I saw that there was a tiny sliver of clear sky right on the horizon that the sun was about to drop into. Just before the train entered the frame, the sun broke into the clear, allowing me to photograph the northbound all-EMD-powered intermodal beneath a cloud-covered Mount Shasta. Less than 30 seconds later, the sun had set.
